Questions & Answers
from "On Ice Cream" featured in Dairy Foods magazine
and sourced from "On Ice Cream" technical short courses.

Adding Inclusions to Novelties:

Question: How do I add inclusions to novelties such as cones, push tubes and sandwiches?

Answer: The addition of particulate inclusions into novelties such as cones, push tubes, and sandwiches is limited by these novelties’ relatively small size and the need to maintain specific shape identity particularly in cones (particularly the ball cone type) and sandwiches.
As particulates become larger, the number of particles in a given volume of ice cream becomes smaller, making it likely that in very small portions pieces of any given inclusion could be absent altogether.
Further, large particulates tend to interfere with the uniformity of shape that is important to cones and sandwiches. Thus, particulates should be selected of relatively small size so that the distribution is such that pieces will appear in all serving sizes and the shape of the novelty is not negatively effected.

In the case of injected syrups, restrictions related to novelty shape and size, extrusion nozzle design, and ice cream flow distort the distribution of any but the simplest of variegated patterns. These challenges can be overcome by selecting a relatively simple variegate pattern injected relatively close to the filling nozzle.

For molded ice cream novelties, the injection of inclusions can also be accomplished by using new bottom-up filling capability that is available from some equipment manufacturers. Many times these bottom-up filling devices can be retrofitted onto existing molded novelty equipment.